


A Demon's Love

by firewolfsg



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Angst, Death, Love, M/M, Molestation, Sexual Assault, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 19:14:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11904402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firewolfsg/pseuds/firewolfsg
Summary: It was a terrible mistake for Palpatine and Tarkin to summon a demon and craft it into the likeness and being of General Veers. The General was understandably furious when the demon escaped and came very near to forcing itself upon his husband. Unable to banish it and unwilling to give it a Chiss of its own, the Grand Admiral and the General embark upon a gamble…(Non con in Chapter 1. If you'd like to avoid it, you can skip straight to Chapter 2 to get to the Angst. )





	1. A Great Mistake

“Mitth’raw’nuruodo.”

Thrawn barely gave his husband a glittering look before he turned his attention back to his paperwork. “I thought you said you'd be—” He stole a quick glance at the chronometer, “Gone for another half hour with your Thundering herd?”

“Couldn't I finish off earlier, Ch’eo vur?” Veers glided into the room.

“You must have rushed. You've never left your crew with this much time off your usual practice drills.”

“I have a very enticing incentive waiting in our quarters.” Veers was on the left of Thrawn's chair now with his broad arms encircling his waist while his lips brushed against his neck.

“Max.” Thrawn tried not to arch into his husband's touch and give into the desire to tilt his head to give him better access to his neck. “I'm nearly at the end of this report. I need to finish it.”

“Do you really?” Veers pouted as he brought his face between Thrawn and his datapad.

“Yes, really. I timed it. If you hadn't been in such a hurry to get back, I would have been done with it before you returned. Now give me another 10 minutes, and I'll be ready for you,”

He quickly gave his husband a quick peck on the lips, but the General of course dipped in to steal a longer deeper kiss. However, instead of indulging a little in this playful dance of tongues, Thrawn was taken aback to realise something was very wrong.

Dropping the datapad and stylus to bring his hands between himself and his 'husband', Thrawn tried to free himself from the devouring kiss and the suddenly vice like grip around his body. “Stop!” Thrawn wrenched his lips free to glare at this doppelganger. “Who are You?! What did you do to Max?!”

“Oh, this is unexpected. I thought I was supposed to be an exact replica.” The figure holding him seeming bulked up slightly, and Thrawn gulped as he watched two long, jagged horns of ebony and emerald emerge from the sides of its head.

“What are you?” Thrawn stared at this being which looked so much like his husband but obviously was not. “Why do you look like General Veers? Did you do something to him?”

The demon’s laugh was silky with an otherworldly vibe that echoed with a multitude of harmonized voices in Thrawn's head. “No, Mitth’raw’nuruodo, I have not even met your General. As for doing something to him? Nothing, why? Do you want me to?”

Thrawn was struggling to escape the doppelganger's vice like grip, his eyes widening with the realisation that this being was now nude with a very demanding member pressing against his leg. “Let me go!”

“Are you sure, I can't persuade you otherwise, Ch’eo vur? Your General Veers and I are so very similar.”

“Do NOT call me that! You have no right to it”

“You only realised the difference when we kissed, did you not?” The being easily turned the struggling Chiss around so that it could lay its head beside his face. “With your eyes closed, don't I feel like him?”

“Let me g—” Thrawn's words ended in a strangled cry as familiar warm lips kissed him under his neck and a long tongue snaked out to touch him at a particularly sensitive spot.

“It wouldn't even be cheating, Mitth’raw’nuruodo. I was made in his image. I can do everything your General is capable of... and even more.”

“Get your hands off—” Thrawn's voice was again choked off in a moan as clawed hands lightly scratched over his suddenly bared skin.

Where had his uniform gone? Had he suddenly lost a moment of time for this—demon to have stripped him? His mind was lost in a miasma of fear and lust as the doppelganger touched him in much too familiar ways, drawing responses from him that he couldn't avoid.

“I wouldn't hurt you, Mitth’raw’nuruodo.” Thrawn opened his teary eyes to realise he was now sitting nude upon the lap of this Demon and held tight in its embrace. “My similarity to your General ensures I will not force myself upon you.”

“Then let me GO!” The vice like hold loosened much to Thrawn's surprise.

“Mitth'raw—”

“Get your grubby claws off my husband!” Neither had notice the soft chime that announced the slide of a door opening, nor the entrance of the real Maximillian Veers. “Wilhuff!”

“Demon!” Tarkin hurried in after the furious General Veers. “My apologies, Grand Admiral, General.”

Veers stalked over to them and forcefully took his Chiss from the pouting demon's slack arms. Thrawn practically collapsed into the protective embrace of his husband.

“I was only playing.” The demon looked up worriedly at its furious master. “I wouldn't have harmed him. This body you gave me doesn't have the capability of doing that to its consort.”

Tarkin's glare intensified as he felt more than saw the real Veers tense while Thrawn shivered in his embrace. “The Grand Admiral is husband to General Veers. That does NOT give *you* any claim on him.”

“Why can't I have one of my own, then? It's not fair if I have the same feelings and desires, but can't act on them.”

“We will talk about it later. Now return to your chambers.” Tarkin waved a sith holocron in its face. “You are never to set foot in here again. Nor come within 10 metres of either your template General Veers or his husband Grand Admiral Thrawn.”

The demon pouted at them in disappointment. Before it left though, it swept close enough to Veers and Thrawn to grab one of the Chiss' hands. “I am sorry about the fright I gave you. I presumed too much.” It gave him a fangy leer, “But that is my nature as a demon.

“You know?” It addressed the outraged Veers, “we could have had a lovely three-some if you'd just be willing to share.”

Veers growled and his hand was quickly filled with a blaster pistol, though the demon only laughed as it released Thrawn's hand and skipped away to vanish before Veers could point his pistol at it. Tarkin just pinched the skin above his nose.

“Wilhuff! What in the name—”

“I'm sorry for that.” Tarkin turned to them. “The Emperor was dabbling and your name came up, but no one thought beyond the moment what might happen when we created that demon using the template of one of our greatest and loyal warriors.”

“Well, you're going to keep that hutt spawn away from us!”

Tarkin nodded firmly before turning his eyes to the still silent Chiss. “Grand Admiral? Thrawn?”

“Ch’eo vur?” Veers looked down at his shivering husband whose face had been pressed against his chest since the demon departed.

“It— it wasn't wrong to say it looked and sounded exactly like you. But...” Thrawn finally looked up at his husband. “He tasted of ashes.

“That's when I knew something was wrong.”

“Ch’eo vur...” Veers stroked a gentle hand over his husband's face to brush away the tears. The draping of a warm blanket around them reminded him that Tarkin was still with them and Thrawn was very much vulnerably nude.

Veers quickly moved them to the couch in their living room where he could arrange his husband draped over his body with their legs entangled. Tarkin found another blanket from their hall closet and draped that over them too.

None apparently wanted to break the silence that fell over them. It took a while, but the stress of the situation finally took its toll on Thrawn and he slipped into a fitful sleep while held in the protective embrace of his husband.

“Again, I am sorry for this.”

“Thank you for coming to me as soon as you realised it slipped your leash, but Wilhuff... that— that thing must go.” Veers growled at him softly, trying not to disturb his exhausted husband. “Bad enough you took my— identity to create this monstrosity... By its own claims you will be reducing the Empire's foremost strategist and tactician into nothing more than a sex toy for this monster if we give it what it wants. That's NOT happening.”

“We called up and harnessed a demon, Max... And forced it into your soul form. I don't think anyone believed it would work” Tarkin looked ashamed. “I—don't think we know how to safely banish it without freeing that demon and probably making the situation worse.”

Veers' eyes blazed at the Grand Moff.

“As it currently is, it cannot hurt you, its template, or Thrawn, its believed consort.” Tarkin told him solemnly. “But while I have commanded it to stay away...”

“It may still try to approach us.” Veers looked up at the ceiling in barely controlled anger. Tarkin well knew that if Veers didn't already have his arms full holding his slumbering husband, he'd probably have earned a split lip or a black eye.

“It— it did listen to me.”

The two Imperials looked at the Chiss in surprise. Thrawn pushed himself slightly off Veers' chest to look him in the eye. “I don't deny it gave me a fright, but it was releasing me before you entered.”

“Ch’eo vur...”

Thrawn gave his husband a peck on the lips. “If we must live with it underfoot, it needs to be trained.”

Jealousy, lust, anger and fear all flashed over Veers' face as he stared at his husband. Thrawn gave him a shaky smile. “I— believe— I still need a bit of time to get over this fright, but— I did notice your heart skip a beat when it mentioned a three-some.”

Veers' mouth went completely dry in astonishment. Jealousy and lust wared in his eyes, making his husband raise a speculative eyebrow at him.

Tarkin clearing his throat brought their attention back upon the Grand Moff. “We will *not* command it, Grand Admiral. Please don't think you need to—”

“There's something of an incubus in this demon's make up, isn't there?” Thrawn asked pushing himself fully off his husband now to sit on the sofa with the blankets wrapped around him like a robe.

Tarkin coughed uncomfortably as he glanced at Veers and back at Thrawn. “Unfortunately, the soldiers our Emperor gathered to do the summoning were rather impressionable youths with— a great deal of— respect for your husband.”

Veers barely held down a snort of laughter as his eyes went wide with humour then again turned dark with jealousy.

Thrawn gave Tarkin a smile which made him shiver. “You've given us a rather powerful weapon against this poor being then, Governor. It will desire to please us to be allowed near me. That makes it trainable.”

Veers' mouth dropped open in shock. “Did— did you just *weaponize* my love for you?”

Thrawn leaned back to give his husband an assuring kiss. “Nothing will replace you in my heart, Ch’eo vur. But if we must live with this thing in our lives, it needs to win our trust first.”

Veers frowned at his husband for a moment before his eyes turned wicked. “That's almost cruel.”

Thrawn squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as a shiver ran through him, prompting his husband to immediately sit up behind him and wrap his arms around him in a protective embrace. “I—believe it would be punishment enough for the fright it gave me.”

“If you are sure, Ch’eo vur?” Veers asked him softly.

“No...” Thrawn admitted in a small voice. “But apparently we must live with this thing.”

Veers heaved a big sigh before he turned his attention upon Tarkin. “All right then. So, Wilhuff? You can convey to that— demon, that it needs to court us and earn our trust; *both* of us. And that *will* be difficult after what it had done to my husband.”

“Have *you* ever turned away from a challenge?”

Veers grimaced at the reminder. “Kriff! It is going to eventually succeed, isn't it?”

“Do you doubt yourself?” Thrawn asked him teasingly.

Veers made a face. “It is going to be so strange... I'm not exactly that narcissistic, am I?”

“No, Ch’eo vur.” Thrawn let a hand slide out from under the blankets to caress the face looking over his shoulder. “And that's what will make the next few months or years interesting.”

Veers turned his face to kiss Thrawn's hand and Tarkin took that as his cue to leave.

He chuckled to himself as he imagined the range of emotions that he was quite sure would fly over the demons face to learn he *wasn't* going to be given his own Chiss, but was expected to earn the trust and love of his template and his consort.

After the debacle it caused, that was undoubtedly going to be a monumental task. Suitable punishment indeed.


	2. Acceptance and Loss

When Tarkin had thrown the challenge at the demon, it had at first scoffed and dismissed it. But the thrice damned body and form of Maximillian Veers was another matter. It frustrated the demon. It pained it that it carried an irritating uncomfortable feeling in its black heart to be separated from the Chiss.

It couldn't even pretend and try to sneak into his presence. The Chiss *knew*. That first time was the only time it had ever fooled the Grand Admiral. Never again, it seemed. And the demon couldn't fault him for his caution after what it had done.

Guilt. This was another irritating emotion it had had to deal with after it was trapped in the new body. It wasn't comfortable with these emotions. It was miserable for days as it tried to ignore the pain it carried in its black heart.

Finally admitting defeat, the demon set about its strategies in trying to gain the trust of the pair of mortals. It was a challenge, it realised as it lightly skimmed and reviewed the memories of the companions of these two men, chronicling the careful courtship of Mitth’raw’nuruodo by Maximillian Veers.

If only it hadn't been so stupid to kriff it up so badly with their first encounter... It was going to be a hard, uphill battle... But the demon knew it had patience too.

As the weeks turned into months, and the seeds of trust finally started to bear fruit, it was much to the demon's surprise that this alien desperation it had carried in its heart had turned more into desire and need... Druk... It hadn't realised it was capable of love...

The triumph of success when it came, when it had at last earned their trust and love… It realised then that it had, in truth, lost as much as it has won.

To learn to love, it had necessitated it completely embrace the identity of Maximillian Veers, essentially forgetting its life before it was trapped in this body. But— to have the love of the original Maximillian Veers and Mitth’raw’nuruodo. It was worth it.

It was a pity this new learned contentment would not last very long...

* * *

It had rushed back with all speed. Even as far away as the Emperor had sent it, the demon had felt the distress of its loves and the stab of pain for a loss. But it was far too late.

The demon crept into their bedroom at the height of day to find its surviving love in bed from grief. “Mitth’raw’nuruodo?”

“Max? You've returned.” The Chiss turned listlessly towards him.

“Love? Ch'acah...” It asked hesitantly as it leaned closer on the bed, but not too close. Almost afraid it would find accusations blazing in its love's eyes for its absence and inability to save the only one he called his heart. But Thrawn's hand only reached out to comb his fingers through its hair and rub gently over the base of one of its horns.

“Ch'acah, I have no accusations for you.” Thrawn told it softly. It knew its surprise must have shown on its face with the man's sad smile. It had always astonished it how easily this man could read it. Veers had laughed at it once, telling it that it was much more expressive than the original.

“We've always know each other’s schedules. We knew you were off on the Emperor's business.” A light tug on its horn told the demon that the Chiss was inviting it to join him in bed.

It carefully slipped under the covers to gently pull its love into its arms, growing its stature just slightly so that it could hold the Chiss in a full encompassing embrace. It and Veers had learned over the years that whenever Mitth’raw’nuruodo was feeling particularly vulnerable and needy, he liked to be held. And the Demon found it liked growing oversized to hold both of them in its huge arms too. It pained it to realise it didn't need to grow quite that large anymore.

“Such is fate, that he would be taken from us.”

“Did you take revenge?”

“Of course. As soon as my flagship could make it here, I pulled back all our ground forces and began orbital bombardment upon the rebel camps. I did not accept surrender.”

“You left nothing for me?” It pouted in mock upset at its love.

“It's still too hot for me to send down my ground troops for a last sweep. You could do that, if you want?” Thrawn looked up at it, but quickly turned away again. And the demon knew it was because it shared the same face with Veers, and it was currently too painful for its love to look at it now.

“Do you want me to leave you?” In its black heart, it wished that the answer would be 'no'.

“I— don't want you to leave me too.” Thrawn said against its chest, his body shivering for a moment. “But I— I think I also need a bit of time alone. Will you take care of the Rebels for me, then come back?”

“I will take care of the Rebel scum for you, Ch'acah. Then I will be back, and I will never again leave your side.”

Thrawn's arms reflexively tightened over its torso. “The Emperor won't be pleased.”

“He can hang.” It growled back. “It was because of that petty mission that I wasn't here to—” It did not continue. There was no need.

When Thrawn's arms began to withdraw, it took that as the suggestion to depart. The Chiss still would not look at it as he settled back into bed to pretend sleep again as it went to the door.

The air was alive with recently departed souls when it landed planet side. The demon would take its time to gather and feast upon these lost souls as it howled its grief in the firestorm that would be left in its wake. All too aware that far above in his flagship, its surviving loved one was crying alone in their bed unable to take comfort from it that looked exactly like their lost love.

* * *

The confrontation with the Emperor was a firestorm, one which unfortunately for the Emperor shattered the binding that had been cast upon the demon, freeing it from its obligations.

Strangely enough, it realised it didn't want to shrug off the borrowed flesh. It was content to continue bound in the morals and flesh of Maximillian Veers, and tied to the Chiss by his love. And so, it returned to Mitth’raw’nuruodo's side, and the Emperor sent them both to the Unknown Regions to get the demon as far away from the core worlds as he could have them.

It took many months, but Mitth’raw’nuruodo eventually could look upon the demon again without flinching away from its visage. And eventually too, they could make love again without faltering to grief.

And as the demon had promised, it never left Mitth’raw’nuruodo's side, protecting him from all harm. Even the treachery of an assassin's blade was no match for it, as Rukh the Noghri was to discover when that Hutt spawn tried to turn the tide of the Battle of Bilbringi with his cowardly attack.

Under its protection, Mitth’raw’nuruodo was to live a charmed life as he waded into battle again and again to ensure the safety of his race and his adopted people against the Far Outsiders.

Unfortunately, there was one enemy that the demon had no defence for. Neither could it persuade its love to take up its offer to avoid the ultimate fate all mortals faced.

“Ch'acah... I’m sorry, I cannot...”

“Mitth’raw’nuruodo... Ch'acah... you would leave me too.”

A thin hand, weak with age reached for its face. The Demon took it gently to kiss it and let its tears fall upon and moisturise the dry, greyish blue skin.

“Max... Ch'acah... You have limited yourself for far too long.” Its love told it gently. “You once gave me a promise, and now with my passing you can be free at last.”

“But—”

“Tarkin forced you into this form and flesh, and you adapted well.” Thrawn told it softly. “You fought it at first, almost—almost forced yourself upon me in defiance of the spells that bound you...”

“I— how— you— you knew all this?”

“You recall being told that you are very expressive?” Thrawn smiled at it. “I knew— even in my grief for my husband's recent loss, I could see that the binding Tarkin and the Emperor cast on you was broken. You could have shrugged out of the skin of Maximillian Veers then, but you choose to stay with me.”

“Ch'acah.”

“Ch'acah... Know that I loved you too… and be free to live your own life when I am gone.” Its love tugged on its hand to encourage it to lean closer. “Now give me a last kiss, and we'll say good bye, my love. Ch'eo ch'acah.”

And so, it did. A sweet press of lips against lips. And the demon drew back to look upon its love's brilliant smile before his bright red eyes seemed to fade and grew cloudy. Becoming unfocused…

“Oh... it's suddenly so bright, Ch'acah...” The demon took its love’s hand in its again as it listened to the soft rasp of his voice speaking its final words.

“What— Thrass? Brother...? Here…? Oh... Ch’eo vur...”

The smile faded... The glow in his eyes did as well... And the Chiss... the demon's love was gone.


	3. To Meet Again

It tried. As its love had suggested, the demon shrugged off the borrowed flesh and tried to remember its life before it was caught in that ill-fated trap so long ago. How could it have realised it had imprisoned itself in a far more insidious trap with its long association with a pair of mortals.

It couldn't seem to escape. In every human, it saw the laughing visage of Maximillian Veers; in every flash of blue sky or of a blazing red sun, it thought of Mitth’raw’nuruodo. How ever far it wandered, the memories would trigger and remind it of its loneliness and lost loves.

But fate was ever an evil trickster and the demon was to one day curse and thank it for its fickleness.

It had been wandering aimlessly down a street when a sudden impact from the side unexpectedly toppled it to the ground. “What the—”

It stopped mid-snarl as it stared into a pair of familiar bright red eyes framed by a blue face. A boy. A Chiss boy.

“I'm sorry, mister.” Said a voice from somewhere else close to the ground. Another boy, the one who barrelled into him. A slightly taller, brown haired human lad with hazel eyes.

“We're sorry. We weren't watching where we were going.” The Chiss boy helped the other to stand first before the two took an arm each to try and pull it to its feet too.

“It's— it's okay. No harm, see?” The demon brushed off its clothes to look upon the two boys smiling in relief up at it.

“Mac! Tron! Where are you kids?” Just ahead of them, a Chiss man waved back at them. “Come on, don't stray too far from the group. Sorry, Sir!”

“Sorry again, mister.” The little brown-haired kid told it shyly.

“But we gotta go. Coming, Russ!” The little Chiss boy nodded at it then grabbed his friend's hand to drag him off to join the man and the many more children surrounding him and a few other adults.

The Demon waved numbly as it stared after them. Maximillian Veers... Mitth’raw’nuruodo... It would recognise the two souls anywhere...

It made itself vanish before it started laughing like a mad man in the middle of the street. It should not have been surprised it that these two souls would find their way back together again when reincarnated.

And... It found itself somehow cleansed and a lightness returned to its dark heart. It felt little pull or desire to chase after these two souls again. It had already enjoyed the privilege to be allowed in their obit for one human lifetime. As Mitth’raw’nuruodo had urged of it years, or was it decades ago, it had its own life to live.

Still, it also knew it was going to look in on these two from time to time. Hopefully, this cycle would not see any of their lives cut short.

End


End file.
